Binturongs are unusual arboreal civets from Southeast Asia with distinctive musky scent and prehensile tails, whose welfare in zoo settings depends on appropriate climbing structures, diet, and social management.
Binturong welfare in zoo settings hinges on providing environments that allow expression of their arboreal lifestyle. Animals in enclosures without adequate height, climbing structures, and complexity spend their time on the ground in postures and patterns inconsistent with natural behaviour — a visible welfare deficit. Their frugivorous diet means that appropriate nutrition including dietary variety is important; a diet of meat alone or nutritionally inappropriate foods causes health problems alongside behavioural deprivation. As largely nocturnal animals, daytime viewing in well-lit public areas may conflict with their natural activity patterns; welfare-centred facilities provide reversal-light schedules or nocturnal house viewing to align visitor access with the animals' natural active periods.